Tag: fish

How Japanese Fishers Used Sumi Ink to Document Their Trophy Catches During the 19th Century

Leave a comment

In Japan, there is a traditional art medium referred to as “Gyotaku” (pronounced “gyoo-tah-koo”), which means “fish impression” in Japanese. The art form began in the 1800’s when fishers wanted to record their prized catches before the development of photography. These fishers would coat their most prized catches in sumi ink, press the inked fish onto washi paper, and this create a highly detailed and ornate print which demonstrates the fish’s size and features at a 1:1 scale. The ink relies upon pure collagen, manufactured by simmering raw animal tissue for hours at a temperature range of 60 – 65 degrees Celsius, until such time that the protein of the tissue dissolves into a clear liquid adhesive. Once this occurs, the organic solution is mixed with ultra finely compacted soot pigment, creating a rich and viscous ink to produce prints from

The Fermentation and Manufacturing Process of Ancient Roman Garum (Fish Sauce)

Leave a comment

The Ancient Roman’s created a special fermented fish sauce called “garum”. Garum was highly valuable and in modern times accounting for inflation, garum would cost $1250.00 for 1 liter. Garum was made from nothing more than salt and decayed fish. The original preparation is unknown as the ancient recipes have been lost. The fishes organs and digestive fluids help in the fermentation process. The container which the garum is made in is left in the sun for a few days to allow the process to ferment as much as possible. The oily slush oozing from the fishes organs and digestive enzymes is the garum and it is loaded with nutrients and contains glutamate which triggers chemical receptors on the tongue to make the brain crave more of it. Glutamate is the primary ingredient/component in monosodium glutamate, commonly abbreviated as “MSG”, and is used by many chefs all over the world

Analogs of the Christian Bible’s Epic of Noah’s Ark

Leave a comment

In London, England in 2014, Dr. Irving Finkel, one of, if not the worlds most foremost authoritive upon cuneiform writing, published a book entitled “The Ark Before Noah” which states that a 3700 year old Sumerian tablet translated by Finkel depicts the Christian biblical story of Noah and the flood which drowned the world. This tablet is at the very least 1000 years older than that of the Biblical epic. In the Christina Bible, Noah is warned of a cataclysmic flood by God. A similar story exists in ancient Indian Vedic texts in which King Manu was forewarned by Lord Vishnu in the form a fish, of a great flood impending, with Manu constructing a large boat and ultimately surviving. In the Babylonian poem the Epic of Gilgamesh, the protagonist Utnapishtim (pronounced “ut-nah-pish-tim”) is advised of an impending flood by the god Enki (pronounced “en-kee”). In ancient Aztec culture, a sacred male and female couple hide within a hollow tree with corn while holding steady as the deluge of a great flood envelops the Earth. Ancient Celtic, Norse, and Chinese mythology also account similar stories in which a great flood occurs and only some survive. The common denominator between all of these stories is intervention by a force which knew ahead of time of the impending cataclysm

The Reason it is Impossible to Store, Purchase, and/or Sell Live Tuna

1 Comment

It is virtually impossible to store, purchase, and/or sell tuna fish live as tuna die shortly after capture. This is due to the fact that tuna breathe using ram-gill ventilation, which means that they must constantly stay in motion to have water pass over their gills and feed their body with oxygen. Motion is required continuously, exerted during both hours spent awake and time spent asleep. As the tuna is in motion, water flows into its mouth and over its gills and gill filaments, diffusing oxygen into the tunas bloodstream while simultaneously releasing carbon dioxide. This function is performed equally well at both slow and high rates of speed as long as consistent motion is achieved

The Ecologically Destructive Technique of Blast Fishing and Cyanide Fishing

2 Comments

Blast fishing was introduced in Southeast Asia post World War II, by American soldiers who threw grenades into bodies of water to yield a large cache of fish, a technique which is used  during the modern day to produce fish as a food resource in local markets. Dynamite is often used but any explosive will perform the task effectively, even improvised devices which utilize an explosive chemical within a glass drinking bottle with an improvised wick lit by a cigarette. Cyanide fishing is an ecologically destructive method of catching fish in which a diver takes bottled cyanide and pumps it into reef areas where fish reside, stunning the fish and making them easier to catch, so that they can be extracted for the pet and live fish trades. These techniques result in coral reefs losing their color and ultimately dying, eliminating a major food source for marine life within the region. Both methods are extremely damaging to the ecosystem and left unchecked, can decimate entire ecosystems within a few short years. Portions of and entire coral reefs which have slowly built over thousands of years can be destroyed in a matter of seconds by using either of these harmful techniques. Fortunately, both methods of fishing are illegal in most of Southeast Asia

The Etymology of “Guatemala” and Traditional Guatemalan Fishing Techniques

Leave a comment

The term “Guatemala” comes from the Nahuatl term “Cuauhtēmallān” which means “place of many trees”, a derivative of the K’iche’ Mayan language term for “many trees”. In Guatemala, those who fish commonly do so by using a technique not seen in many other places. People who fish slap the water with the horizontal edge of their machete to stun fish who are swimming nearby. Once stunned, the fish is caught and brought out of the water so that it can be cleaned and consumed

The Original Intent of Wasabi

Leave a comment

200 years ago, sanitary conditions were very poor in Japan. Clean water was scarce and refrigeration did not exist which posed a problem as fish is a staple of the Japanese diet. The Japanese used wasabi to stave off germs and food poisoning. Wasabi kills Escherichia coli and many other bacterium instantly. Eating raw fish referred to as “maguro” which means “tuna” in English was possible without modern soap and refrigeration because of wasabi. The Japanese also realized that white eyes on a fish mean it’s old, while shiny eyes on a fish indicates that it is fresh